By Danish Mughal

danish@pakium.pk

1.Intro & Entrance

So, finally we were moving ahead to attend Akcent’s LIVE Concert *Yay*. At 7:30 pm we reached the main entry of the town – steel mill – where the concert was being organized in Arabian Sea Country Club. Almost 5-10 KM before the event place we were stopped for “Passes check”. There were some of the organizers at the first security point called “Jinnah Gate”. Only those could get entered who had the PASSES. We were definitely impressed by this check point too far from the event place. Bypassing this point, we were stopped again by a group of boys who were also Volunteers of Zeal Events and asked us, “how many people? “and “show us the passes” kind of questions.  They checked the passes again and cleared us.

At around 8:00 pm we had reached the event place. It was a huge cricket ground where the stage & the system was set up and the whole ground was covered with tents for security reasons. We entered from the backstage area and soon we were seeing the final arrangements of the concert.

2.  Underground Band covering songs

While talking with friends we listen to a tune, EP’s Waqt probably. I see at the stage and find some young guys covering EP’s tracks. They were actually checking the sound and telling the sound engineers “bass not working, vocals are too loud” etc. This was the first performance of the day. Kind of rough but good for a start. By then, around 50+ people had gathered in front of stage and all were sitting on the grass, unlike stand-up at the concerts.

3. ARSH BAND

Host comes & announces the first line up of the day: ARSH the band – a new band comprising of young guys. They performed a couple of their original tracks. Because they were not LIVE, crowd hooted on them and some even said sarcastically, “boy where are the drums?”

4. Beat Boxer

A very rare species in Pakistan – beat boxer – comes and shows his talented skills, the crowd takes some interest but all while sitting on their butts. The performance was appreciated by many attendees.

4. Raeth

Finally, host announces the performance of Raeth Band. Raeth consisted of ONLY of Wajji & Farabi. They didnt have any band line-up so they also performed on CD’s but Wajji was singing LIVE as well. On Wajji’s request, the crowd stood up, to have some fun. Between Raeth’s performance suddenly the sound stops and everyone starts looking around. No one was expecting such a big blunder in this mega event. Audio Link — The best sound providing company for Concerts in Karachi – was providing the services and it was not expected from them.

5. DJ bobby

Finally, Raeth Leaves and Dj bobby comes on stage to show some of his skills. He played some remixes and crowd started gaining momentum. Now they had started dancing on the beats.

Ultimately,the countdown for the major performers of the night had been started. We were watching the countdown on a giant screen on Stage.  10, 9, 8 …

5. Mega Stars of the day — Romanian’s Trio:

Akcent

The Akcent guys reach the stage, security tightens, beats start with a bang.  “That’s my name” is the first track they play and crowd roars like the sky is listening to them, No one could listen anything except the loud noisy voices and girls’ screams. OMG Akcent is a really big deal and Karachiites were also desperate to SEE THE ROMANIAN band live.

“and you’re the one that lights the fire , I am the one who takes you higher” Akcent starts with these lines and yes crowd is enjoying the track & singing along with them.  Akcent chose its best song to play first and they simply rocked Karachi.

Concert moves ahead and Akcent performs the 2nd song of the night, ICE ICE BABY. Spectators are asked to put their hands up and they obey the request like order.  Again towards the end of the song, Adrian the lead vocalist sings “ICE ICE BABY to go” and crowd follows after him.

The 3rd track by Akcent was another hit number — Lover’s Cry. During the track when they got to the punchline of the song “Lover’s Cry” crowd screams their hearts out and Akcent Trio introduces a very wonderful clapping pattern to go with the beat. Around me, there were several couples who were busy in dancing like no one was around. It seems like everyone is “King of Disco” there, Everybody Is dancing.

The trio introduces another attractive way to engage their fans, this time raising their arms up in a similar sequence. The attendees follow them again.

“Happy people,  Happy faces” was the name of next track. “Everybody’s dancing, everybody with me” was being sung by Adrian and it looked this looked like the track the crowd was waiting anxiously for. “Stay With Me” is one of Akcent’s most famous tracks.. “Stay with me, With me, On & On, baby when the light goes down” were the lines we sang along with the Akcent repeatedly.

“Love Stoned” was the next up. The video of the song came out a couple of months back and this song is addictive as well. “How deep is your love….?” Was the line that Adrian asked the crowd to sing along with him and Karachiites were quite upto the mark, . Adrian the lead vocalist gave first compliment to the audience “you are very good singers” and it made the night for everyone. 😀

“Kylie” was the 2nd last track of the night. The track not many people had heard before. Akcent asked to dance it up on the track and now the crazy crowd was dancing, but NOT REALLY on the beats. It was now looking a dance party where everyone was dancing rather than enjoying concert. Akcent’s influence had gone, everyone moving randomly.  Then Adrian asks, “Everybody dance” and yes everybody jumps up and dancing on a same pattern on the beats.

As “Kylie” ends  up, one of the organizers come up on stage and say to the band that they wanted to pay their honors to the band. Komail Polani , Ali Sangi & Mir Zubair Jatoi – the masterminds behind the event – honor the Akcent Guys with AJRAK . Akcent trio calls it “very beautiful” and raise a slogan “Pakistan Zindabad(long live Pakistan!) “ .

It appears the concert is going to end and Akcent is just leaving the stage but Wow… crowd started chanting “Once More, Once More” and Akcent performed an encore , of their most popular track — That’s my name.

That’s my name(encore). “This song is dedicated to Zeal Events “says one of the Akcent members.  I had tired dancing and felt like my limbs were giving way. So I got myself a “two times” break, the last song and the concert was wrapped up nice and smooth. They left the stage with a bagful of wonderful memories for us. It was no doubt one of the best concerts Karachi has been blessed with and it will be remembered for a long time to come.

I would like to congratulate Zeal Events. The guys did a tremendous job. What many bigger event management companies couldn’t do, they did quite handsomely. They should be given credit for their efforts along with administration of the Arabian Sea Country club who gave an awesome venue with airtight security and perfect arrangements.

This concert was not a routine event, It showed that we, as Pakistanis are peaceful people with enormous respect for the art and the artists, and a huge appetite for entertainment. This event showed that Pakistan is a safe country for foreigners and we welcome and appreciate all type of the talents. Akcent also indicated that they would very much like to return to Pakistan to perform.  We sincerely hope that Mega Events like this one continue to happen in our country and we once again make a place where everyone is respected and given the space to enjoy.  Rock on & If you are a Pro-Pakistani, Share the good words !!!

Some EXCLUSIVE PICTURES OF THE CONCERT:

For pictures, we are thankful to Ms. Fizza Sangi & Mr. Misbah Farooqi .